Follow up post: Seeking advice.

Unless you have a medical reason to limit your sugar, don't worry about it. I've never heard anyone be worried about eating an apple! :laugh:

Simple fact of the matter is you will continue to feel like this until you eat more. I eat 2200 calories a day and I lose weight.

And you're LOVELY. I am going to have my apple..like NOW and call it living dangerously for the day! I wanted one all day yesterday even talked myself out of half an apple with my fish. That's going to be my first snack of today!

What changed in your way of thinking from when you ate what you want to not even eating an apple?

When the cast came off and I stood up the first time and saw myself in a mirror with no clothes on,could walk around and felt how heavy I was. I started going out once I could walk and clothes actually clung to me as opposed to hanging, the looks I got from people,the way I was treated by people..that's what changed me. I had a hard time even losing the weight because initially I would workout and diet but when weight came off I was happy and sad at the same time and would stop exercising out of fear even though I am disgusting and really wanted the weight gone I was torn between wanting it gone and not wanting to lose the new lens I saw life through. The ability to see people honestly is not something I ever want to lose. My weight is an *kitten*^&le filter and it exposed superficial,unkind people. In the end I decided that I don't have to worry about that as I'll NEVER look the way I once did anyways. I'll probably need surgery after this weight is gone and looking like a stretch marked,patchwork quilt with scars on the arms and abdomen will be enough to keep superficial people at bay. I can deal with never being called pretty again and with fighting long and hard only to look in the mirror and still hate my body when this is said and done. What motivates me now is the thought of playing basketball again,being able to throw on jeans and a tee and not have to worry if every inch of me is covered and not bulging through clothing,being fit so that my kids never become overweight,having more day to day energy ..just the basics. Anyhow that's what's responsible for the shift. In a hip to toe cast with a fractured jaw,rib,wrist and pelvis all I could do was sit,watch tv and eat. Now I can live again and I want to.

It doesn't sound like you want to live again because you are harming your body by not fueling it. Also, how is it living if you can't even eat an apple? It's as though you went from bad habits to other bad habits.

You're eating half or less of what you need to be eating. You were given 1800 calories for a reason, eat them!! Add more protein and fat to your diet in place of some of the carbs and you'll reduce the sugar crash shaky weak feeling. Track fiber, shoot for 25g/day. You still need to feed your body for the size it is now, otherwise you can't expect it to be able to function. The 1800 calories you were given is already a reduced number that is designed to have you lose weight. Undercutting the system is just going to cause you problems. Please listen to your doctor and eat. Real, whole food.

A little scared to add fat. The worst I do now is a little bit of butter on my rye or wheat toast. Ideally where would this fat be coming from? Fish? Chicken? I don't do dairy or eggs.

Why don't you do dairy or eggs? Olive oil, avocado? Butter is dairy and so you must do some dairy?

I cook with olive oil but I don't consume a large quantity of it and avocado I like but haven't eaten it since I started this diet. I really didn't want to eat butter but I was convinced that it's natural and thus better than artificial spreads which are still somewhat high in fat and calories. I was told that "Morbidly obese people like you" (me) "don't need dairy". The person that said that to me is in amazing shape and attends my gym so I abide by the advice.

OMG that person is a tool. don't listen to them just because they are fit and they go to the gym. you can be as fit as you want and still have unhealthy eating habits. i did notice in your diary you are eating a lot of talapia but you only ever list it as raw. are you eating it raw or cooking it? when entering food in your diary you should capture everything right down to the 1/2 pat butter you use to cook the fish or if you are breading/cooking it the ingredients you use for breading.

there's also no reason why you should NOT eat diary unless you are sensitive to it. you should eat protein and diary and carbs and fats all in moderation. good fats not bad fats. avocado is good for you.

i am a firm believer that if you restrict yourself TOO much you are setting yourself up to fail. constantly saying no no no to yourself just means that eventually you are going to give in to your cravings and when it happens it won't be pretty. there is no need to restrict yourself as long as you eat in moderation. instead of an entire bag of chips, take out 10 chips, put the bag away eat the chips drink some water and move on. like avocado - eat it. like eggs - eat them. like cheese - eat it this is all good for you but that doesn't mean eat 3 avocados or 6 eggs or lb of cheese. good luck to you.

I would feel more comfortable eating more if I had a way to know for a fact how many calories I'm honestly burning a day. Is there any accurate calculator that can tell me with a reasonable degree of certainty how many calories I burn daily vs. what I take in?

I have a BodyMedia Fit that I wear on my upper arm, and it calculates how many calories I'm burning every minute of the day. It can help you match your intake to your calorie expenditure every day.